TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 6, 2015) -
Editors note: There is a photo associated with this release.
Banro Corporation ("Banro" or the "Company") (NYSE MKT:BAA)(TSX:BAA) today announced its operating results for the first quarter of 2015.
COMPANY Q1 OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
- Twangiza produced 35,943 ounces of gold in the first quarter of 2015, a 78% increase over Q1 2014 (20,137 ounces in Q1 2014), successfully managing the adverse impact of the rainy season.
- Process plant throughput achieved 101% of the 1.7 million tonnes per annum ("Mtpa") annualized design capacity and more importantly, 3 quarters of consistent incremental improvement.
- Twangiza processed up to 28% of transition material to assist with the feed blend during the last two quarters, even though this material is not included in the Company's mineral reserves.
- Together, Twangiza and Namoya produced 45,197 ounces of gold during Q1 2015.
CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT UPDATE
- The Company received US$20 million of the US$40 million from the Twangiza gold forward sale agreements and expects to close on the remaining funds, as well as the Namoya stream financing, in mid-April.
"Twangiza is performing well and achieved its third consecutive record quarterly gold production. Twangiza will be optimized in Q2 for operational improvement. Namoya is positioned to improve during Q2 2015 as we are ramping up ore production following the installation of the agglomeration stage (with cement added as a binder) into the Namoya heap leach circuit. The agglomeration drum is expected to allow for more efficient processing of the fines content of the Namoya ore and ensure more efficient reagent percolation in the heap process, leading to better gold recovery," commented Banro CEO and President John Clarke.
Twangiza Update
As a result of the management team's diligence and ongoing drive for operational improvement, Twangiza's mining and process plant delivered strong operating results despite the wet conditions typically experienced in the first quarter. Larger mine production allowed the operation to prioritize higher grade for processing, while ample dry stockpiles allowed for consistent throughput to optimize the quarterly plant throughput (428,844t), reaching the annualized design throughput of 1.7 Mtpa. Management plans, over the next 2 quarters, to continue to debottleneck the process to ensure this capacity can be maintained permanently, before pursuing higher targets.
Twangiza poured 10,635 ounces in January, 13,197 ounces in February and 12,111 ounces in March for a first quarter 2015 total of 35,943 ounces of gold. This is above the 2015 monthly average production guidance of 9,000 ounces per month as the operation moves into the dry season and easier working conditions for mine and plant operations.
The Company's preliminary 2015 first quarter production results for the Twangiza mine, in comparison to the same quarter of 2014 and the previous quarter in 2014 are as follows:
Operating
Metrics |
Units |
Q1 2015 |
Q1 2014 |
%
Change |
|
Q4 2014 |
%
Change |
|
Full Year
2014 |
Full Year
2013 |
%
Change |
|
| Total material mined |
Tonnes |
975,716 |
677,569 |
44% |
|
969,062 |
1% |
|
3,595,645 |
4,116,657 |
(13% |
) |
| Total ore mined |
Tonnes |
632,264 |
296,324 |
113% |
|
556,856 |
14% |
|
1,927,744 |
1,758,972 |
10% |
|
| Total ore milled |
Tonnes |
428,844 |
252,691 |
70% |
|
370,881 |
16% |
|
1,358,726 |
1,023,981 |
33% |
|
| Head grade |
g/t Au |
3.21 |
2.73 |
18% |
|
3.01 |
7% |
|
2.70 |
2.98 |
(9% |
) |
| Recovery |
% |
80.7 |
84.97 |
(5% |
) |
81.4 |
(1% |
) |
83.0 |
83.8 |
(1% |
) |
| Strip ratio |
t:t |
0.54 |
1.29 |
(58% |
) |
0.74 |
(27% |
) |
0.84 |
1.35 |
(38% |
) |
| Gold production |
Ounces |
35,943 |
20,137 |
78% |
|
29,445 |
22% |
|
98,184 |
82,591 |
19% |
|
The Twangiza operation processed up to 28% transition material currently in the measured and indicated categories. This material performed well when mixed with the oxide reserves and hence provides the basis for some non-oxide material to be incorporated into the on-going updated NI 43-101 reserves and resources statement that is expected to be released later this month.
Namoya Update
The key objective for Namoya management in Q1 was to position itself to reach commercial completion by H2 2015. The Company had to modify its original ramp-up plans due to the financing delay (with financing having now been secured as reported in the Company's February 27, 2015 press release). This included:
- Pre-stripping Kakula reserve pit earlier than planned in order to open up more mining faces to improve flexibility in mine scheduling and provide additional time for the delivery of the mobile truck fleet that would commence waste stripping activities.
- Commissioning of the agglomeration drum was done on January 27, 2015, 18 days ahead of the initial project completion date of mid-February 2015 as published in the Q4 2014 operations update. The installation and process tie in of the agglomeration drum impacted processing productivity for two weeks straddling January and February.
- The completion of the drum, which was performed in-house, will allow the operations to focus on de-bottlenecking the heap leach operation, increasing speed and capacity of the conveying systems and begin the restart of the modified CIL plant.
There has been significant improvement in heap leach stacked tonnes during the first quarter of 2015 with 64,720 tonnes stacked in January, 87,441 tonnes stacked in February and 103,162 tonnes stacked in March for a first quarter 2015 total of 255,323 tonnes. Namoya poured 3,260 ounces in January, 2,687 ounces in February and 3,307 ounces in March for a first quarter 2015 total of 9,254 ounces of gold.
With the commissioning of the agglomeration circuit and debottlenecking during Q1 2015, it is anticipated that the gold production profile for the Namoya operations will rise incrementally from its current level of approximately 3,000 ounces per month achieved. With heap leach operations taking several months of continuous percolation to fully recover the leachable gold, the full benefits of the improvements to the heap leach circuit are expected to build up during Q2 2015 to a monthly gold production rate of 9,000 to 11,000 ounces per month during H2 2015.
The Company's preliminary 2015 first quarter production results for the Namoya mine, in comparison to the same quarter of 2014 and the previous quarter in 2014 are as follows:
Operating
Metrics |
Units |
Q1
2015 |
Q1
2014 |
Q4
2014 |
| Total ore mined |
Tonnes |
178,800 |
253,853 |
343,753 |
| Total ore stacked |
Tonnes |
255,323 |
129,372 |
218,248 |
| Head grade |
g/t Au |
1.97 |
1.91 |
2.33 |
| Strip ratio |
t:t |
2.93 |
1.81 |
1.08 |
| Gold production |
Ounces |
9,254 |
3,362 |
8,791 |
The production growth of the two operations combined with the improved cash flow and corporate financing, during Q1 2015 in particular, provides a strong foundation for maintaining steady state production at Twangiza and properly ramping up at Namoya to commercial production steady state.